


i'll leave a light on

by LiveLaughLovex



Category: The Code (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 01, Pre-John "Abe" Abraham/Harper Li, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26742709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: Abe receives a late-night visitor.
Relationships: John "Abe" Abraham & Harper Li, John "Abe" Abraham/Harper Li
Kudos: 6





	i'll leave a light on

**Author's Note:**

> There's always a home for you, here in my heart. I'll leave a light on. - Ben Maxfield

It was nearly midnight when someone knocked on John Abraham’s front door, but the prosecutor was still wide awake, lying in bed and staring blankly up at his bedroom ceiling, thoughts still racing through his mind at a mile a minute despite the late hour.

He shook himself free from his mental prison, tossing aside the tangled blankets atop him and padding toward the half-open bedroom door. He exited the room, then made his way to the end of the hall and down the staircase, pausing only once he’d reached the entrance to his apartment. He pulled the door open to reveal a rain-soaked Harper Li standing on his doorstep.

“Hi,” he greeted slowly, stepping aside to allow her into the apartment and then closing and locking the door behind them both once she was inside. “Is everything alright?” he questioned concernedly, folding his arms over his chest as he eyed her worriedly. “It’s… it’s pretty late, Harper.”

“I know,” she assured him apologetically, running a nervous hand through her rain-dampened hair. “I’m sorry. About it being so late, I mean.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, instantly but genuinely, guiding her gently to the sofa. He ducked out of the living room briefly, grabbing a towel from his bathroom. He wrapped it tightly around her shoulders upon his return, quietly directing her to take a seat on the sofa. “So,” he began, observing her worriedly as she shifted on the cushions, “you didn’t answer me earlier. Is everything alright? Are _you_ okay?”

“Everything’s good. _I’m_ good. I mean, I’m _fine_. I’m just…” She trailed off, shrugging helplessly. “Today is William Dyer’s birthday. Would have been his birthday, I mean. His thirty-sixth. If he hadn’t… well.”

“Ah.” Abe exhaled quietly, glancing over at her with a sympathetic gaze. “I’m sorry, Harper.”

“Don’t be,” she said quickly, swiping at a few rebellious tears as they fell down her cheeks. “I don’t know why it’s hitting me so hard. I mean, I knew the man less than twenty-four hours. It shouldn’t, it shouldn’t bother me this much.”

“You knew the man less than twenty-four hours, and he died in your lap,” he reminded her gently, a bit of his heart breaking as she drew in a shaky breath at the reminder, several more tears cascading down her cheeks. “You get to feel however you want to feel about that, okay? There’s no… wrong way to cope with what happened out there.”

“Yeah. I, um…” She inhaled deeply, pulling the towel more tightly around her shoulders and smiling in thanks when Abe draped his heaviest blanket around her, as well. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go for a drive, but that didn’t help. Then, well, it started raining, and I’d already made it over here, to this part of town, so I figured that I’d just…” She shrugged again. “Drop in. I, I didn’t really think about how late it was. I’m sorry.”

“Like I said, it’s fine,” he assured her once more. “Uh… hey, how about tea? You like tea, don’t you? Or I’ve got… well, coffee, but it’s a little late for that. Hot cocoa, I think – my sister visited a couple weeks back, and she always stocks up on the stuff, even though I never drink it. I’ve got some soup, too, if…”

“Abe,” she laughed tearfully, reaching over to squeeze his wrist gently, gratitude shining in her gaze. “You don’t have to coddle me. But if you insist, I’ll take the hot cocoa.”

“Alright. One hot cocoa, coming right up.” He patted her leg gently, offering another timid smile, and then stood from the sofa, making his way into the kitchen and beginning to heat enough milk for two hot beverages.

He carried on a casual conversation with his home’s other occupant throughout the process, keeping the topics light and carefree. He returned to the living room less than ten minutes later, this time with mugs of steaming hot chocolate in tow, and reclaimed his seat next to her before carefully pressing one of the mugs into her outstretched hands.

“Thank you,” she murmured, smiling gratefully as she took her first sip. “I really am fine, though. I mean, I’m sure you’re not confident in that, seeing as I showed up, crying, on your doorstep…”

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured her yet again.

“But I really am fine,” she repeated seriously. “It just, it hit me out of nowhere, that’s all.”

“Okay,” he agreed easily enough, taking a drink of his own beverage and then setting his mug down on the coffee table in front of them. “I believe you.”

“Then why are you staring at me like you’re afraid I’m going to break into a thousand pieces?”

“I can accept you’re fine and still worry about you, Harper,” he pointed out quietly. “Being fine doesn’t mean you have to be completely alright, every moment of every day. You don’t have to be alright right _now_ , not if you don’t want to be.”

“So, you’re still worried about me,” she surmised.

“I’m always worried about you. It’s part of friendship, or so I’m told.” He smiled slightly, amused by her lack of amusement in response to his attempt at humor. “Hey, I’ve got Hulu. I think they’ve got most of that show you like up. What is it called, _Superstore_? Something like that…”

“Yeah, it’s – it’s _Superstore_ ,” she confirmed, slightly confused. “I really am fine, Abe,” she said again.

“And I really _do_ believe you, Harper,” he returned patiently, reaching for the remote and finding the most recent season of the show they’d been discussing.

“Well, I could… I could leave.”

“You don’t need to,” he assured her, setting the remote down on the coffee table and retrieving his mug to take another sip of hot cocoa.

“I don’t?”

“You don’t,” he confirmed.

“And why’s that?”

“Because there’s a very important lesson you could be learning, here,” he informed her evenly.

She couldn’t bite back an amused grin at his blasé attitude. “And what’s that, Abraham?”

“Well,” he began, turning to face her completely, “that being fine doesn’t mean having to be alone.”

“Oh, it doesn’t, does it?” she questioned playfully, despite the gratitude held in her gaze.

“No,” he said seriously. “It doesn’t.”

“Alright,” she agreed easily enough, shifting marginally closer to him. She squeezed his hand gently, offering a grateful smile. “Thanks, Abe.”

“Like I said,” he returned, glancing back toward the television screen as she leaned her head, briefly, against his shoulder, “there’s absolutely nothing for you to thank me for.”


End file.
